Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:23:15.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Values, change and inter-generational ties between two generations of women in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2003

PEGGY TEO
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore.
ELSPETH GRAHAM
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of St Andrews, Scotland.
BRENDA S. A. YEOH
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore.
SUSAN LEVY
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Abstract

Personal values are framed by social contexts and carried through a person's lifecourse, but are sufficiently malleable to adapt to changing conditions. The dynamic character of personal values should be more frequently recognised in studies of inter-generational ties. This study examines the relationships between two generations of Singaporean women and their divergent values about gender roles, preference for the gender of children, family formation, care-giving and living arrangements. Younger women embrace more western views, while their older counterparts uphold Confucian values. Previous studies have tended to characterise inter-generational ties as conveying ‘conflict’ or ‘solidarity’, but here the concept of ‘ambivalence’ is employed to show that contradictory values co-exist, and that inter-generational ties encapsulate the negotiated outcome of complex attitudes, values and aspirations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)